Moscow makes a mess on the Moon as Luna 25 probe misses orbit, lands with a thud
(2023/08/21)
- Reference: 1692579547
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/08/21/russia_moon_mission_luna25_fails/
- Source link:
Russia’s rushed attempt to land a probe on the Moon has failed.
News that the mission was in trouble came on Saturday when national space agency Роскосмос (Roscosmos) used its Telegram account to [1]reveal that the Luna 25 probe was instructed to enter its pre-landing orbit, but an emergency occurred, and the maneuver was not a success.
A subsequent post delivered [2]the bad news : the botched burn missed its mark so badly that communication with Luna 25 was lost.
[3]
Attempts to reconnect on August 19 and 20 failed, and the space agency's analysis of the erroneous orbit Luna 25 entered saw it "switched to an off-design orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the lunar surface."
[4]
[5]
That last quote is a machine translation, so let's not go all Star Trek and imagine the probe fell into a trans-dimensional wormhole so the matter used to make the machine cannot now be found in this thread of the multiverse. It's more likely Google Translate has been a little ebullient.
Luna 25 still exists. It's just kersplat.
[6]
A special interdepartmental commission has been formed to probe the probe's problems. Not, per the previous paragraphs, an interdimensional commission.
Luna 25 was intended to land near the Moon's south pole, do some science, and scout for sources ice and other resources that could help to make a human outpost on Earth's natural satellite more plausible – a scenario that has become more urgent in recent years as China and the US jockey for position.
Luna 25 had been on the drawing board for years, but the project's scope was reduced when a rover was deemed too heavy to make the trip. The remaining lander was equipped with an arm with which to retrieve samples. That's small beer compared to China's most recent lunar efforts – one of which landed a rover on the far side of the Moon while another saw samples returned to Earth.
[7]
The mission was hoped to have propaganda value at home and abroad. Russia's space program has not evolved at a pace comparable to the US or Chinese efforts in recent years. Sanctions on Moscow following its illegal invasion of Ukraine mean Russia will struggle to find future collaborators and to import technology it needs for advanced missions.
A successful moonshot would have shown the nation remains a power to be reckoned with, to domestic and international audiences.
[8]Hold the Moon – NASA's buildings are crumbling amid 200-year upgrade cycles
[9]DARPA wants interoperability standard for Moon living
[10]NASA to test potential 400Mbps laser link for Mars
[11]We need to be first on the Moon, uh, again, says NASA
Not that there's anything wrong with failing to stick a Moon landing. Space is hard, after all. And Russia can be excused a little rustiness running missions beyond low Earth orbit. Luna 24, its previous mission to the Moon, took place in August 1976. Leonid Brezhnev was running the place at the time.
Remember, too, that Russia remains one of just three nations to land a craft on the Moon. And that NASA used Russian Soyuz rockets to fly American crews to the International Space Station when it lacked the kit to do so itself for some years.
Moscow's mess may soon look worse, though, as India will this week try to become the fourth nation to land a working craft on the Moon. The India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday [12]revealed a planned touchdown of its Chandrayaan-3 at 18:04 IST on August 23 (12:34 UTC).
The Chandrayaan-3 mission comprises a lander and a rover. The mission was scheduled to take 42 days for its journey from Terra to Luna. Luna 25, by contrast, tried to make the trip in nine days.®
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[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/18/nasa_buildings_upgrades/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/16/luna_10_darpa/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/10/nasa_to_launch_laser_system/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/09/nasa_artemis_2_update/
[12] https://twitter.com/isro/status/1693181653273940240
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
News that the mission was in trouble came on Saturday when national space agency Роскосмос (Roscosmos) used its Telegram account to [1]reveal that the Luna 25 probe was instructed to enter its pre-landing orbit, but an emergency occurred, and the maneuver was not a success.
A subsequent post delivered [2]the bad news : the botched burn missed its mark so badly that communication with Luna 25 was lost.
[3]
Attempts to reconnect on August 19 and 20 failed, and the space agency's analysis of the erroneous orbit Luna 25 entered saw it "switched to an off-design orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the lunar surface."
[4]
[5]
That last quote is a machine translation, so let's not go all Star Trek and imagine the probe fell into a trans-dimensional wormhole so the matter used to make the machine cannot now be found in this thread of the multiverse. It's more likely Google Translate has been a little ebullient.
Luna 25 still exists. It's just kersplat.
[6]
A special interdepartmental commission has been formed to probe the probe's problems. Not, per the previous paragraphs, an interdimensional commission.
Luna 25 was intended to land near the Moon's south pole, do some science, and scout for sources ice and other resources that could help to make a human outpost on Earth's natural satellite more plausible – a scenario that has become more urgent in recent years as China and the US jockey for position.
Luna 25 had been on the drawing board for years, but the project's scope was reduced when a rover was deemed too heavy to make the trip. The remaining lander was equipped with an arm with which to retrieve samples. That's small beer compared to China's most recent lunar efforts – one of which landed a rover on the far side of the Moon while another saw samples returned to Earth.
[7]
The mission was hoped to have propaganda value at home and abroad. Russia's space program has not evolved at a pace comparable to the US or Chinese efforts in recent years. Sanctions on Moscow following its illegal invasion of Ukraine mean Russia will struggle to find future collaborators and to import technology it needs for advanced missions.
A successful moonshot would have shown the nation remains a power to be reckoned with, to domestic and international audiences.
[8]Hold the Moon – NASA's buildings are crumbling amid 200-year upgrade cycles
[9]DARPA wants interoperability standard for Moon living
[10]NASA to test potential 400Mbps laser link for Mars
[11]We need to be first on the Moon, uh, again, says NASA
Not that there's anything wrong with failing to stick a Moon landing. Space is hard, after all. And Russia can be excused a little rustiness running missions beyond low Earth orbit. Luna 24, its previous mission to the Moon, took place in August 1976. Leonid Brezhnev was running the place at the time.
Remember, too, that Russia remains one of just three nations to land a craft on the Moon. And that NASA used Russian Soyuz rockets to fly American crews to the International Space Station when it lacked the kit to do so itself for some years.
Moscow's mess may soon look worse, though, as India will this week try to become the fourth nation to land a working craft on the Moon. The India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday [12]revealed a planned touchdown of its Chandrayaan-3 at 18:04 IST on August 23 (12:34 UTC).
The Chandrayaan-3 mission comprises a lander and a rover. The mission was scheduled to take 42 days for its journey from Terra to Luna. Luna 25, by contrast, tried to make the trip in nine days.®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://t.me/roscosmos_gk/10535
[2] https://t.me/roscosmos_gk/10540
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZOLhZK6409qwZ1iR@LVKOQAAAZA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/18/nasa_buildings_upgrades/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/16/luna_10_darpa/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/10/nasa_to_launch_laser_system/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/09/nasa_artemis_2_update/
[12] https://twitter.com/isro/status/1693181653273940240
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Mark 85
In space, no one can hear you go "thud".
Sora2566
Wonder what all those guys who were screaming about "Sanctions don't work! Russia is going to the moon!" think now?
ghp
'T was probably a ukranian drone that intercepted Lunar XXV. Of course, the ukranians won't admit this.
gecho
Move Fast and Break Things
"rushed attempt"?
Gene Cash
Luna 24 was in 1976. Luna 25 started development in the 1990s. That's not quite what I would call a rush job. Well, except maybe if you're Capita.
In the early 2000s it was supposed to be part of the Japanese Lunar-A mission. In 2007, it was supposed to be the lander for the Indian Luna-Resource mission. It was also supposed to be vaguely part of the ExoMars program.
In 2021, they found out the laser doppler velocity & range system didn't work with the integrated guidance.
Also, because of sanctions, they weren't able to use an Airbus inertial measurement unit weighing about 1.5kg, and they had to switch to a Russian IMU weighing about 10kg, which was slower, needed more power, and was far less accurate. Well, I guess now we know how much slower and less accurate it was!
Also note that Russia's previous 4 deep space probes have failed. Phobos 1 & 2 in 1988, Mars 96 in 1996, and Fobos-Grunt in 2011.
Most of this is from Scott Manley's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM8bJsqCLYQ
Well, darn. So much for Battlebots: On the moon!